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COLONEL Y. V. POKROVSKY: Mr. President. The opening statements of the
Chief Prosecutors have enlightened us as to how Fascist Germany
pursued the ideological preparation for aggressive war.
The connection between Hitlerite propaganda and acts of aggression
against peace was also revealed in the statement of the U.S.S.R. chief
of counsel. Therefore, may I be allowed to quote just one short
extract from Horst von Metzsch's book entitled "Krieg als Saat" (War
as Seed), which was published in Breslau in 1934. It reads as follows:
"It is impossible to conceive of the National Socialist movement
without war: German martial glory is its father; its finest
musketeer is its leader; and war's hardy spirit is its soul."
That is not just a phrase dropped by a garrulous Fascist penman; that
is a programme which is blurted out. War, and only war, was considered
by the Hitlerite conspirators as the most effective means of attaining
the objectives of their foreign policy. It is, therefore, only natural
that Germany was turned into an armed camp and became a constant
menace to her neighbours after the Fascists had seized power in the
country.
The East was the first objective of the Fascist conspirators.
I am now going to quote a passage from "Mein Kampf." This passage can
be found in Volume I, Page 1, of the document book now being handed to
the Tribunal, and is marked in red. Hitler wrote, as far back as 1930,
in "Mein Kampf":
"The movement Eastwards is continuing, even though Russia must be
erased from the list of European powers." (Page 732 of "Mein
Kampf," 1930 edition).
Hypocritically proclaiming her love of peace and giving her neighbours
assurances of her intention to live in peace with them, Hitlerite
Germany merely strove to conceal her real, her ever-present aggressive
intentions.
The conspirators gladly concluded any agreement on arbitration, non-
aggression, etc. They did it, not because they were really striving
for peace, but with the sole intention of waiting for a suitable
moment to strike the next treacherous blow and of lulling to the
nations of the world into a sense of false security. Having committed
one of their scheduled aggressive acts, they strove with still greater
energy to convince everybody that from now on they had no further
aggressive plans. A combination of hypocrisy and fraud, of treason and
aggression, ruled the entire system of German foreign policy.
With incredible insolence the Fascist conspirators violated any of
their international obligations or agreements, including those which
directly prohibited the use of war as a solution of international
disputes. Not one of the wars provided by the Hitlerites can be
classified under the concept of "defensive wars." In every instance
the German Fascists acted as aggressors. They admitted, themselves,
that they did not hesitate to resort to provocation in order to have
an excuse for attacking their next victim at the most propitious
moment.
I believe I should present to the Tribunal certain facts about the
Hitlerite organisations established for the purpose of subversive
activity, and also about the part played by the official S.S., Lorenz,
whose name I shall mention later on in connection with the action
against Czechoslovakia.
Himmler, the holder of several offices, combined in one person the
position of Reichsleiter of the Security Units (SS) and of Reich
Commissioner for the Consolidation of Germanism (Reichskommissar fuer
die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums). As such, he was charged with
the leadership of all State and Party organs within Germany, which, in
turn, controlled the German settlements, the work among the German
Fascist minorities in other countries and the re-immigration of
Germans into Germany.
In this field his executive apparatus was the so-called "Volksdeutsche
Mittelstelle."
The leader of this organisation, and therefore the actual deputy of
Himmler, in this special sphere was Obergruppenfuehrer S.S. Lorenz who
will be discussed later.
There was also another criminal organisation. I have in mind the
Foreign Organisation of the N.S.D.A.P. (Auslandsorganisation der
N.S.D.A.P.), abbreviated to A.O. It played an important part in
creating the Fifth Column in countries which were later subjected to
Hitlerite aggression.
A.O. united such Germans who were members of the Fascist Party living
outside Germany. Apart from the wide propaganda of Fascism, A.O. was
engaged in political and other kinds of espionage. Germans living in
other countries received material help through A.O. and maintained
contact with various pro-German and espionage groups of the country in
which they lived.
The sub-branches of the Hitlerite party abroad were under the guidance
of German diplomatic missions. For this purpose the leader of A.O.,
Gauleiter Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, was installed in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs with the rank of a Secretary of State.
There are several appendices to the official Czechoslovak report. One
of them is registered under document number 3061-PS. It represents
excerpts from the testimony of Karl Hermann Frank, former deputy of
the Reich Protector. I submit this document to the Tribunal and,
without reading it in its entirety, I wish to refer briefly to the
contents of those parts of the document which deal with question of
the Fifth Column.
At the interrogation of 9th October, 1945 (the Tribunal will find the
passage quoted in Volume I, Part 1, Page 185 of the document book)
Frank declared that, in his opinion ,the Henlein Party received money
from Germany from 1936 onwards. In 1938 it received funds from the so-
called Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle in Berlin, through the German
Minister in Prague. Frank confirmed that, together with Henlein, he
several times visited the German Ambassador in Prague, who handed him
and Henlein money for the Party. Frank admits that the acceptance of
this money was incompatible with his duty as a Czechoslovak citizen.
Frank further admitted that he visited the German Embassy in Prague
many times alone, informed the German Ambassador of the inner
political situation in Czechoslovakia and, considering the character
of the information communicated, committed high treason.
Frank testifies (what I am now quoting will be found in Volume I, Part
1, Page 187):
[Page 204]
"All negotiations in the summer of 1938 between Henlein and
myself on the one hand, and the Reich authorities, in particular
Adolf Hitler, Hess and Ribbentrop on the other hand, were
conducted for the purpose of providing the Reich authorities with
information on the development of the political situation in
Czechoslovakia. These discussions took place on the initiative of
the Reich authorities."
I have quoted this excerpt from Page 5 of the Russian translation,
Document No. 3061-PS. On Page 188 of your document book you will find
another excerpt which I shall now submit to you. Frank confesses that
he was aware of "the treason committed by the Party and its central
leadership corps by receiving money from abroad for effecting measures
inimical to the State."

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